COIMBATORE: Sanitary workers condemned the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) administration and launched protests at few ward offices in the city on Saturday, after the civic body failed to pay revised wages.
Sanitary workers of the CCMC staged a huge protest last month and went on a strike, boycotting solid waste management work, which included the door-to-door collection of segregated garbage in 100 wards of the city.
The strike was led by thousands of contract sanitary workers demanding better wages, permanent employment status, and proper regulation of their Provident Fund (PF) and Employees' State Insurance (ESI) contributions. The workers also voiced strong opposition to the hiring of migrant labourers and the continuation of the contract labour system, which they feel undermines job security and fair treatment.
After the strike, the civic body agreed to revise the wages, and the salary was hiked to Rs 21,000 from Rs 15,500. However, the latter didn't keep up its promise as the sanitary workers on Friday received the old salary. In view of this, the sanitary workers staged a protest at a couple of sanitary inspector ward offices in the city on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu Selvam, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Annal Ambedkar Sanitary Workers Welfare Association, told TNIE that the civic body has cheated the workers and failed to keep its word. "Workers have not received the revised salary. We were told that everyone will be receiving a revised salary of up to Rs 21,000. However, the old salary of Rs 15,500 has been deposited in all the workers' accounts on Friday. This is totally unacceptable. We will be boycotting our work and will be staging a huge protest on Monday in this regard."
A senior CCMC official said the issue will be resolved soon and the commissioner has been taking necessary steps to resolve the problem.